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Nowadays it is a Historic National Sanctuary, protected by the
Peruvian Government by means of Law Nº 001.81.AA of 1981, that tries to
conserve the geological formations and archaeological remains inside the
Sanctuary, besides protecting its flora, fauna and landscape's beauty.
The whole park has an extension of 32,592 Has.; that is 80,535 acres
(325.92 km²; 125.83 mile²). Machu picchu (the Inkan City) is located on
kilometer 112 (70 miles) of the Qosqo-Quillabamba railway; the train
station is known as "Puente Ruinas" and lies at an altitude of 2000 mts
(6560 ft.). From that station there are buses in order to get to
South-America's most famous Archaeological Group that is found at an
average altitude of 2450 mts (8038 ft.), and at 13°09'23'' of South
Latitude and 72°32'34'' of West Longitude. The climate in that sector
has also some characteristics that are found all over the region; thus,
only two well defined seasons are distinguished: the rainy season
between September to April, and the dry season from May to August.
Nevertheless, Machu picchu is found by the commencement of the
Cusquenian Amazonian Jungle, so the chance of having rains or showers is
latent by any time of the year. In the hottest days it is possible to
get even about 26° Celsius (78.8° Fahrenheit), while that in the coldest
early mornings in June and July the temperature may drop to -2° C.
(28.4° F); the average annual temperature is 16 degrees Celsius.
Annually, there is an average of rains from 1571 mm. (61 in.) to 2381
millimeters (93 in.). It is obvious that the monthly relative humidity
is in direct relationship to rains, so the humidity average is from 77%
during the dry months to 91% in the rainy months.
The Machu Picchu Historic National Sanctuary is found over a great
granite orogenic structure baptized by Dr. Isaiah Bowman as the "
Vilcapampa Batholith" that outcrops over about 400 km² (154 mile²). Its
formation belongs in the scale of geological time to the Paleozoic or
Inferior Primary and may have an approximate age of 250 million years.
The Vilcapampa Batholith's white-gray granite is an intrusive igneous
rock (magma cooled off in great profundities inside the earth); it is
mainly compound in average by 60% of feldspar, 30% of quartz, and a 10%
of mica. That granite has interlaced equigranular texture and possesses
from 6° to 7° of hardness in the MOHS scale with a resistance of 1200
Kg/cm². Likewise, in this region there are some other rocks
corresponding to the Inferior Paleozoic; such as schist, quartzite and
metamorphic conglomerations that might have an age from 350 to 450
million years.
Machu Picchu (like most of the Quechua names in the region) is a
compound word that comes from machu = old or ancient, and picchu = peak
or mountain; therefore, Machu Picchu is translated as "Old Mountain".
The famous mountain that is seen in front, and appears in most of the
classical views of the site is named Waynapicchu (Young Mountain).
Unfortunately the original names of the mentioned sectors are lost,
Machu Picchu, Waynapicchu and some other proper names used today are
contemporary ones; ascribed probably by farmers living in the region
before Bingham's arrival. However, according to studies about some XVI
century documents, the original name of the whole area might be
"Picchu".
It is known that Hiram Bingham, a descendant of missionaries, was the
man who found Machu Picchu for the contemporary world and modern
science. He was a North-American historian born in Honolulu, Hawaii; who
in 1907 taught the South-American History and Geography course in Yale
University. As a history professor specialized in South-America he was
chosen as delegate of his country to the First Pan-American Scientific
Congress carried out in Chile in 1908. Years before, in 1906 he had
begun his activities as explorer taking a horseback journey from Caracas
to Bogota, following the liberator Simon Bolivar's way. Then he followed
the old colonial trade way from Buenos Aires to Lima, arriving to this
Andean region in 1909. That year, he was invited by the prefect of
Apurimac Mr. Juan Jose Nuñez in order to start an exploration from
Abancay towards Choquekirau and to study what it was believed to be the
last Capital of the Inkas. Since the end of the colonial epoch, many
myths had been created about the existence the "Inkas' treasures" that
according to tradition had been taken by Manko Inka is his retreat to
Willkapanpa (willka = sacred, panpa = plain; its Spanish form is "Vilcabamba");
thus it was so common by that time to find treasure hunters willing to
get to this last Inkas' dwelling. That same intention moved Bingham to
study ancient chronicles and even to visit Spanish archives, and
subsequently in 1911 to come back to Peru with the aim of performing
studies of geography, geology and botany, and for sure, also in order to
try finding Willkapanpa.
Also See in Machu Picchu
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